Bone Shards
by PierDreams
Summary: One-offs, shorts, and drabbles...shard stories. I see what you did there. Rated T for violence.
1. Dark Thoughts

She was so lonely. Always. She flitted through the dark world that she inhabited, aching with cold and fear of the outside.

She searched people to complete her. Soulmates of sorts, even if they weren't willing at first. After they started sharing space and getting up close and personal, she knew that they were happy together. They were _made_ to live this way.

She knew that she changed the people that she joined. Some of it was physical, a sign of the relationship shared within this body. The look scared the others. They just didn't understand it. They had never felt the connection. Or if they had, they didn't remember.

That part made her sad. Very few could remember the beautiful sensation of togetherness once she was gone. But she always would remember every person she joined.

Many times as she drifted through the quiet cold, she remembered her past experiences. She recalled the insulting panic on the faces of her new friends as she came closer. She remembered the sensation of her cold and their warmth mixing. It burnt away the icy loneliness that ruled whenever she was locked away in that room, that terrible room in the Midnight Hotel. The best part was feeling their different bodies and their movements and their thought schemes, their hopes and dreams and plans and pasts. She _belonged_ somewhere.

And now she had been blessed again, gifted to this girl with the dark eyes and the pale skin and the ebony hair. She had inhabited her body and felt that link between the two. The Remnant had experienced that fairytale feeling.

It hadn't lasted.

And now everything was going wrong. She had been shunted out of control, but not by the girl with the taken name Valkyrie Cain. This was something different. Something powerful, insanely so. Something out of control.

Huddled in the corner of the mind she inhabited, the Remnant cursed herself for being so foolish, for breaking down that forbidden wall in this head. For unleashing the monster.

So now she was forced to watch her brothers and sisters die at the hands of the body that she herself in inhabited. The Remnant shook with shock and loss and horror and pain as Darquesse sliced her way through a swathe of bodies, bathing in the blood that she drew with vicious swipes. The Remnant saw the panicked eyes of her family members as they tried, in vain, to vacate the bodies that they inhabited. She felt, from the inside, Darquesse's sick enjoyment of the obscene violence.

And she felt it now as Darquesse turned her sights inwards and decided to rid herself of the pesky critter quivering in a corner of her brain.

The Remnant screamed in agony as she was burnt away in a flash of blinding light.

* * *

**Hey guys, this is my first one-off/drabble/idkwhattocallit so tell me what you thought!**

**This was an idea I had and it comes from Mortal Coil when Valkyrie has a Remnant in her head (oops if you've not read it...too late! GO READ IT NOW) but I decided to write from the point of the Remnant. Hope you found this interesting! PS It makes more sense if you go back and reread it now:P**

**Please rate&review, PM me, follow, favorite...ya know(: thank you sosososo much for all of the support on my other story, Someone to Save You, love all of you guys. Go check it out, please, if you haven't yet! There's another story on the way now, so yeahh.**

**Watch out for it!**

**Kay. Byee.**


	2. On The Eve of Last Stand of Dead Men

Valkyrie Cain leaned casually against the brick wall, inspecting her fingernails idly. She glanced up at her partner, standing across the street. His hands were dug deeply into his coat pockets. His scarf fluttered in the lukewarm August breeze, and his hat was dipped low over one blue eye His brown hair was but shaggily cut and rippled with the wind.

She pulled her phone out and texted him. _'You look ridiculous.' _He grinned as he received the text. Skulduggery raised one brow and pulled a face at her.  
_'I look amazing,'_ he replied.  
She snorted at her phone and shook her head. _'I'm bored. This guy better show up soonnnnn.'  
'You spelled soon wrong.'_  
_'No one cares.'  
'Well I obviously do since I pointed it out.'  
'Shut up.'_  
She heard Skulduggery chuckle faintly. Then his head snapped up and he looked to his left, watching the space around the corner that Valkyrie couldn't see for herself. He whistled a little tune as he put his phone away in a pocket. There it was: the sound signal.

Valkyrie flattened herself against the brick wall and readied to grab their target. If everything went to plan, they'd just snatch him and get the information they needed. She tried to think of any instance when a plan had actually worked. Nope. Wasn't working. She consoled herself by thinking of how their _main ideas_ still were successful - I mean, she did save the world after all. Valkyrie rolled her eyes in exasperation.

Across the street, Skulduggery was intently watching something that was getting closer, judging by the way his eyes were following something. Valkyrie's heart beat a little faster like it always did when she readied for a fight.

The man trotted around the corner, clutching an unzipped briefcase full of papers to his chest. His face was flushed from the speed of his travels, and he was sweating profusely. Valkyrie grimaced as she grabbed his slippery arm and swung him into the wall.

He shrieked and dropped the briefcase, and papers fluttered everywhere. She restrained him with a palm on his sternum. "Stay," she warned. The man whimpered.

Skulduggery had crossed the street already at this point, and was sweeping the sheets into one arm. He walked up to the pair just as the man struggled free and tried to run. Skulduggery sighed, dropped the sheaf of paper again and pushed at the air. The man in the black dress shirt gagged and bumped back. "No way," he gasped.

Skulduggery ducked to pick up the papers yet again. He mumbled about the indignity as he grabbed the loose sheets. The man looked at Valkyrie and opened his mouth slightly. "Are you -" he stammered. She shushed him.

Skulduggery straightened up. "This may come as a surprise to you -"

"What are you doing -" he started.

"Ah. Nope. Shh," Valkyrie interrupted.

"So. As I was saying, there are some thing in this world that you don't understand, that you don't really -"

"Oh please," Derek Landy scoffed. "I'm the one who created you. What do you think you're doing here?" He slid his hands to Skulduggery's collarbone, and before he could stop him, he had deactivated the facade. The face rippled away and Skulduggery rubbed at his collarbones. "You, sir, just invaded my privacy."

Derek Landy grinned. "You two look even better than I thought you would. Hello Valkyrie. Hello, Skulduggery."

Valkyrie threw a glance at Skulduggery. "Um."

He straightened his tie. "Well, apparently you're not too concerned about my being a skeleton."

Derek Landy shrugged. "Not particularly."

"Or about him throwing you into a wall without touching you?" ventured Valkyrie.

He shook his head, still grinning like a maniac. "Oh, lordy, I've gone round the bend now," he beamed. The other two looked on with confusion. "Well, I suppose I'm totally barmy now. You could stop staring anytime now. It's not very polite, you know." He laughed suddenly, then snatched the pile of papers from Skulduggery.

"Well, cheerio then. I must be off." The two simply stared, utterly bemused by this maniac. He swung around. "I'd best be getting rid of you two then. It's a tad unsightly for the great Mr Landy to be seen conversing with two of his own characters. What did you lot want from me again?"

Valkyrie shut her hanging jaw and said, "We're here about your new book."  
"Oh, is that so? It is quite a work of genius, if I may say so myself. Utterly brilliant indeed." He scowled at them. "It would have been much better if you hadn't dropped it in the street. Morons." He shoved the papers into the briefcase and squeezed his eyes tightly shut.

Valkyrie and Skulduggery looked at each other.

Derek opened one eye. "Damn," he muttered. "You're still there."

"Uh...where exactly were we supposed to go?" she questioned.

"I don't know!" He flailed an arm. "Away!" Derek began flapping his arms wildly while hopping about and screwing up his face so tightly that it became as red as a beet. "Shoo!"

Valkyrie pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes to try and get away from the dancing idiot before her.

Skulduggery pulled out his phone and opened an application.  
"Is that seriously SnapChat?" she asked incredulously.  
Skulduggery recorded a video and tapped the option to send to all contacts. "Indeed, my dear." She laughed out loud.

Meanwhile, Derek had finally stopped his bizarre spasms and was trying to quietly sneak away.  
"Here we go again," sighed Skulduggery as he clicked his fingers and summoned a flame into his palm.

Derek Landy stretched luxuriously and rubbed a hand over his face. He glanced out at the nighttime Dublin scene. It was the eve of the release of THE book. IT was a masterpiece indeed, and he was exceedingly proud of THE book. He smiled widely as he looked at the bound manuscript copy sitting on his desk.

Derek heard a sound from the front hall of the tiny apartment. Instantly, he tensed up. His spidey-sense was on fire. He tried to get up soundlessly, but the chair squealed, and he tripped. Derek's arms pin wheeled as he regained his balance. He wiped his brow, grimaced, then shut his laptop and hefted it like a weapon. Better than nothing.

A floorboard creaked and he resisted the urge to scream like a little girl. A shadow moved across the wall, and Derek drew back his arm.

There was a sound of a collision, and then a female voice swearing ferociously and the noise of hopping on one foot.

"Ahh, god that hurt! Ooh, my toe. Bloody wall-edge-corner-thing!" she shouted.

"Job well done, Valkyrie," came a man's voice from behind Derek. He squealed like his chair had and whirled round. Skulduggery was lounging in the corner, having just emerged from behind the curtains. "We were kind of going for stealth."

Derek gulped and drew back his arm again to fling the laptop at him.

"Oh, wait, before you do that, you might want to save the document."  
Derek stared at Skulduggery blankly.  
"Your story? You haven't saved it yet."  
"Oh, yeah," he exclaimed. He flipped open the screen and pressed the save button. Valkyrie limped over to join them.  
"Thanks, mate."  
"Sure."

"Now, what did you want again?"  
"Well, since Last Stand of Dead Men comes out tomorrow -"  
"You mean THE book."  
"Yes. As I was saying, The book -"  
"THE. It's all capitals. Not The."  
"Right-o. So. THE book comes out tomorrow, so Valkyrie and I were wondering if it would be possible...I mean, if you were okay with..."  
"Oh! You want to read it?"

They nodded vigorously. Derek Landy beamed. "But of course! Here, have a seat on the sofa! I just happen to have three copies of the pre-release set. Perfect!"

He jogged to the kitchen as Skulduggery and Valkyrie settled themselves on the couch. A few minutes later, he returned carrying a tray with a pot of tea, three mugs, a pack of McVities, and of course, the books, stacked neatly. He set it on the coffee table and poured them all a cuppa.

"Oh, and for you, my dear." He passed Valkyrie a bag of frozen peas. "For your toe," explained Derek. She thanked him, and Skulduggery tore open the pack of digestives as they relaxed on the sofas, books in hand and mugs in reach.

* * *

**Okay. So I wrote this all last night. I'm only writing up this blurb now. Don't judge, I was a little tired lol. For example: why is Skulduggery drinking tea? I don't know. Maybe he's just pouring it through his jaw or something...STILL. **

**This is like inception. Like 'sweater inside a sweater' inception. But 'writer writing about writer writing about writer. Whose characters whant to read what he wrote.' Haha.**

**So it turns out I have SO MUCH RESPECT for all of you who write during the school year. This is so dang hard! Sigh.**

**BUT ALSO. WHERE IS LAST STAND OF DEAD MEN?! Anyone know? It's hard to find USA info on it. But Kindle store says it was published today and it's 'not available for purchase at this time.' Snob. Why u lie to me? Today is a sad, sad day. **

**Please rate&review, favorite, follow, PM me. Or at least smile and have a nice day(:**


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